The West Hollywood City Council set a date of Sunday, Sept. 29 for the next West Hollywood Book Fair during its Tuesday night meeting. The council also voted 4-1 to increase the budget for the annual event to $225,000, up almost $65,000 over the 2012 budget (a 40 percent increase).
The increased budget will allow book fair organizers to expand programming this year and increase services to attendees.
The council also expressed a desire to expand the book fair in future years to include an entire weekend worth of events held both during the day and at night. Possible nighttime events mentioned include free movie screenings in West Hollywood Park, music acts and “in conversation” chats with well-known authors.
Councilmember John Heilman said making it a weekend event would encourage more people to spend the night, thereby helping area hotels.
Councilmember John D’Amico said it is time to “professionalize the event” and work on the city’s branding with this signature event.
“The book fair aspect of it is aching to be more,” said D’Amico.
Mayor Jeffrey Prang was the lone vote against increasing the budget as he expressed concern over the extra cost.
the end of the world shirts they “donated” to small businesses ended up in the alley for the homeess…appx. $2000 worth of boxes from my store… sure wish i didn’t have to pay an outdoor dining fee that is close to that amount!
SHAME ON ALL OF YOU PEOPLE WHO COMMENTED HERE!!!….HOW DARE YOU LEAVE OUT THE INFAMOUS “END OF THE WORLD” PARTY TOO!!!! :-)http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GtYz-QrUphI
And while I am at it – I do think that the Book Fair deserves much more money for the ptomotion of the written word and the chidlren’s events. It certainly should have priority over G0-Go Appreciation Day.
The book fair a good idea. There should be more second hand sellers.
Water should be abundant and free. And it should be held in a season where the weather is more inviting. I think that restricting the Library bookstore to it location at the library is self-defeating. And if they want corporate sponsors then they need to start asking NOW.
If the City can spend almost one MILLION on Halloween, with no profit, they can damn-well spend $225,000 on the Book Fair. I wouldn’t even mind if they switched the amounts…a million on the book fair and $225,000 on Halloween! And I agree with those above…SPONSORSHIP FOR ALL EVENTS.
If the City thinks this event should be expanded and Mr. D’Amico thinks it should be professionalized then shouldn’t we get sponsors for various events so that the City doesn’t lose money? I’m not sure that some potential additional TOT will come close to defraying the costs for the expanded event. On a similar note, CSW should be booted out of organizing the Pride weekend and the whole event be turned over to a professional event planner. Any decent party planner/promoter (and we have some very talented ones in town) could find sponsors to make the festival free, provide better… Read more »
So, according to D’Amico, the book fair aspect of the book fair is aching to be more. That’s some sharp analysis.